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Xiaomi has no doubt created one of the best mid-range phones you can buy this year with lots to like about this value for money handset. It’s not a no-brainer though and that’s largely down to the software.
Unavailable in the US
Xiaomi is back once again with another set of cheap Redmi phones to tempt budget-conscious buyers.
There are five Redmi Note 13 handsets in total – the 13 4G, 13 5G, 13 Pro 4G, 13 Pro and 13 Pro+ – all of which are available in the UK (but not the US, like usual)/
Overall, it’s more of the same from Xiaomi which means impressive design and specs for budget or mid-range prices.
I’m reviewing the Pro model here which is similar to its predecessor, the Redmi Note 12 Pro, but arrives with a switch from MediaTek to a Qualcomm processor as well as a 200Mp main camera and double the storage.
The phone is yours for £339, so let’s see if it’s worth your money.
On the design front, it’s more of the same from Xiaomi but that’s no bad thing. Redmi phones have always looked good and the Note 13 Pro is no exception if you ask me.
Sure, it looks remarkably similar to its predecessor but that doesn’t matter to most potential buyers. Despite its samey styling, there are a number of tweaks and upgrades, some of which are invisible to the naked eye.
Chris Martin / Foundry
Chris Martin / Foundry
Chris Martin / Foundry
The first is a jump to Gorilla Glass Victus (up from 5) on the front. It’s also glass on the back, though its type is unspecified. Xiaomi has also implemented various toughness measures, including a shock-absorbing layer and strengthened frame corners.
I haven’t dropped the phone during testing, but it’s certainly stronger than the Redmi Note 12 Pro on paper. The protection is also rated slightly higher at IP54 rather than IP53 meaning it’s a little better at fending off water, though it’s not fully dust or waterproof.
Redmi phones have always looked good and the Note 13 Pro is no exception
The body is slim at 7.98mm (so we’ll call that 8mm then) and has a nicely balanced weight of 187g, though I wouldn’t complain if it was a little lighter. Flat sides on the frame are all the rage these days, while a small bezel makes the phone comfortable to hold.
At the back, the camera module shouts “look at me” and is more neatly arranged this year into a pleasing square. The two main lenses are big, both in diameter and how far they stick out of the phone, but luckily the supplied case ensures the phone doesn’t wobble on a flat surface.
These bundled cases tend to be transparent but it’s matt black here, which looks nice, but you can’t see the colour of the rear glass.
Chris Martin / Foundry
Chris Martin / Foundry
Chris Martin / Foundry
I’ve got the Aurora Purple option on test which changes as the phone moves and catches. Meanwhile, the camera module is split into pastel shades of blue, green and pink. I personally prefer the Ocean Teal colourway and Midnight black looks far less mirror-like than its predecessor.
I also like the matt finish on the rear glass, largely as it doesn’t attract fingerprints, but it is quite slippery to the touch.
Not much has changed about the screen so it’s still a 6.67in AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate.
Xiaomi calls it CrystalRes and there are some upgrades including a bump to 1.5K resolution (1220 x 2712), resulting in a higher pixel density of 446ppi (up from 395ppi) and the bezel around the screen is smaller, giving it a more premium look and feel.
Chris Martin / Foundry
Chris Martin / Foundry
Chris Martin / Foundry
Peak brightness has supposedly doubled to 1800 nits. The screen is certainly bright, and I measured it a very solid 503 nits with automatic brightness switched off.
It’s nicely crisp and colourful, so my only real complaint is that white can sometimes look off, either shimmering with subtle hints of colour or a green tint. I believe the latter is caused by the factory applied screen protector (which can be removed if you like), but even then, it’s only visible from certain angles.
The screen is certainly bright…it’s nicely crisp and colourful
The refresh rate is set to a dynamic mode by default, so it will automatically switch between 60- and 120Hz depending on what you’re doing. You can fix it to either if you prefer, but there’s no LTPO tech for automatically adjusting down to 1Hz to preserve battery life.
The screen now houses the fingerprint scanner (previously mounted in the power button) and I wish Xiaomi had left it as it was despite it feeling more premium. The scanning area is a little too low down the display for comfort and I didn’t find it the most reliable either.
Stereo speakers on the Redmi Note 13 Pro have Dolby Atmos support, which is on by default. I don’t think it adds much to phones and the speakers sound perfectly fine for general phone usage but are nothing to write home about.
Potentially more exciting, for some users anyway, is the inclusion of a 3.5mm headphone jack. A rarity these days but a boon for those wanting to avoid Bluetooth headphones.
This year, Xiaomi switched from MediaTek to Qualcomm for the processor on the Note 13 Pro, with the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 in the engine room.
This is paired with either 8- or 12GB of RAM depending on which storage capacity you choose. The former comes with 256GB which is double that of the entry-level Note 12 Pro and great to see and there’s also a 512GB option, too.
Well, for some markets anyway as only the 8/256GB is available in the UK. That’s a third extra RAM compared to last year.
Chris Martin / Foundry
Chris Martin / Foundry
Chris Martin / Foundry
The Snapdragon is a similar chip to the Redmi Note 12 Pro’s and as such performance isn’t massively different in the real world, though some benchmarks are markedly improved.
I noticed the odd slowdown but it’s largely a case of letting the phone get ‘warmed up’ when you first switch it on and everything settles down quickly. Switching between apps and gaming is smooth and zippy.
Switching between apps and gaming is smooth and zippy
More than just impressive core specs and performance, the Redmi Note 13 Pro has other tricks and features including Dual SIM (either two nano or combined with eSIM) and 5G support.
There’s also dual-band WiFi (but oddly downgraded to WiFi 5 from 6), Bluetooth 5.2, NFC and even an IR blaster which you can use to control devices like your TV – pretty handy when you have no idea where your toddler has hidden the remote.
The big news in the photography department this year is an upgrade from a 50- to a 200Mp main camera, which was previously held back for the Redmi Note 12 Pro+. It’s an impressive number and the sensor has optical image stabilisation (OIS) and an impressively fast f/1.65 aperture.
Elsewhere things remain effectively the same with an 8Mp ultrawide camera and a 2Mp macro lens to complete the trio of rear shooters.
Chris Martin / Foundry
Chris Martin / Foundry
Chris Martin / Foundry
Let’s focus on the main camera since this is the big upgrade and although you can shoot in 200Mp images, you probably don’t want to despite the extra storage this year. Like many phones these days, the Redmi Note 13 Pro pixel bins, combining 16 pixels into one in order to give you a 12.5Mp result.
The main benefit being that more light can be sucked in, as it were, by the sensor for more impressive results. So, how does it perform? Overall, I found the camera to be decent on the whole, but nothing to write home about.
Photos look better on the phone but reveal imperfections when viewed on a larger display. Despite a good amount of detail, natural-looking colours and fast camera app, I found a lot of images weren’t particularly crisp, with the focus often slightly off in lower lighting.
I found the camera to be decent on the whole, but nothing to write home about
With no depth sensor, the portrait mode relies on software and as you can see below, the phone struggles to determine where my dog ends and the railings behind begin.
Don’t get me wrong, some good regular shots are possible, but the experience is far from perfect once you start to look closer.
The ultrawide camera is fine when you need to fit more in, but the quality isn’t great, with similar focus issues to the main shooter.
The macro camera (which is oddly accessed from the settings rather than the ‘more’ section of modes) is like most 2Mp macros; mediocre and really there to bump the camera count. It’s low resolution and fixed focus makes it difficult to get anything worthwhile.
At the front is a 16Mp selfie camera (in a punch hole notch) which provides some nice shots in both regular and portrait modes.
When it comes to video, you can shoot up to 4K/30fps but I would stick to the default 1080p mode and switch it to 60fps for additional smoothness. Quality from the main camera, partly thanks to the resolution and OIS (optical image stabilisation), is decent.
This is a strong area for the Redmi Note 13 Pro and though very little has changed from the 12 Pro, I have little to complain about.
The slightly larger 5100mAh battery isn’t enough to make a significant difference, but I found the Redmi Note 13 Pro can comfortably last a day of usage and almost make it through a second day.
Chris Martin / Foundry
Chris Martin / Foundry
Chris Martin / Foundry
It ran out at just gone 9pm on the second day and this is with mixed usage. If you’re going to be gaming and watching a lot of video, then charging every night will be needed. Other two day stretches didn’t make it as far as 9pm, so it’s not quite a two-day phone.
In our usual PCMark battery test the Redmi Note 13 Pro lasted a decent yet not remarkable 11 hours and 55 minutes. Note that testing was conducted with the screen fixed to 120Hz, so the dynamic mode will extend battery life a little.
The Redmi Note 13 Pro can comfortably last a day of usage and almost make it through a second day
When charging is as quick as Xiaomi offers here, battery life becomes less of an issue. You can get the phone from dead to 47% in 15 minutes and 87% in just 30 minutes. A full charge takes a further 10 minutes – quicker than the quoted 44 minutes.
This is once again thanks to the 67W turbo charger that Xiaomi supplies in the box (at least in the UK) but more impressive results despite the larger cell. There’s no wireless charging but that’s hardly surprising at this price.
The Redmi Note 13 Pro comes with MIUI 14 (not Hyper OS as found on the Poco X6 Pro) which is based on Android 13. Oddly, this is exactly what the Redmi Note 13 Pro came with – it’s a shame not to see Android 14 (the latest version at the time of writing).
If you’ve not used MIUI before, it’s something of a mixed bag. It’s certainly better than it used to be but a far stretch from the smooth, user-friendly software from rivals such as Motorola, Samsung and Google.
With some patience and time invested in learning the OS and tidying it up, there are some good sides.
Chris Martin / Foundry
Chris Martin / Foundry
Chris Martin / Foundry
You may love the split notification and quick settings panels which pull down from either side of the selfie camera, iOS-style. I like the option to have the lock screen image change every time I press the power button, though these are often accompanied by a link to a relevant story meaning many are images of celebrities I don’t care about.
I also like the way the sides of the display light up to inform you of a notification as well as the floating app feature, though I stumbled upon this and took a while to figure out how to do it again.
And that’s a good metaphor for the software as a whole: there are a lot of clever features baked into MIUI, but you have to go and find them, which is made hard with the chaotic amount of bloatware and settings.
There are a lot of clever features baked into MIUI, but you have to go and find them
Chris Martin / Foundry
Chris Martin / Foundry
Chris Martin / Foundry
Xiaomi isn’t clear on the software update policy for the phone but says “typically, we will maintain the security updates for at least 2 years after the first shipment of a certain device model” on its support website.
Some get three years but since this isn’t a flagship device, it’s safer to assume you’ll get two years. If you want longer support, which would be understandable, then it’s best to look at the likes of Samsung and Google.
There’s just one model of the Redmi Note 13 Pro available in the UK with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
It usually costs £339, but you can currently get one for £299 from Xiaomi and Amazon.
Xiaomi doesn’t officially sell its phones in the US, but you might find an international model on Amazon.
That’s the same UK price as the Redmi Note 12 Pro when it launched but with double the storage and a third more RAM, making it impressive value for money. It also compares favourably to the £449 Redmi Note 13 Pro+, which offers better performance and faster charging but a curved display and no headphone jack.
The £449 Samsung Galaxy A54 and Google Pixel 7a both come with 128GB, with only the A54 available in a 256GB configuration. They have advantages like better software support but Xiaomi offers great value when it comes to hardware. A cheaper option is the excellent Motorola Edge 40 Neo at £299.
Check out our list of the best mid-range phones for more options.
Chris Martin / Foundry
Chris Martin / Foundry
Chris Martin / Foundry
The Redmi Note 13 Pro, like its predecessor, ticks a heck of a lot of boxes and will particularly appeal to those looking for a premium phone at a mid-range price.
And the price is the same as last year despite a raft of upgrades, some of which are small and some are significant.
You now get double the storage, outclassing many rivals, while the solid 120Hz AMOLED screen is also now brighter. Performance is smooth, battery life is good and charging is still very fast. A more durable design is welcome, too.
Some users will also relish often-overlooked features like a headphone jack and IR blaster.
As usual, it’s software and photography where the handset can’t match rivals, with not only a less user-friendly interface (despite some good features hidden away) but also a shorter lifespan due to a limited update support from Xiaomi.
If you can look beyond those, it’s a great phone for the money.
Tech Advisor’s Reviews Editor, Chris has been reviewing all kinds of tech for over 10 years and specialises in audio. He also covers a range of topics including home entertainment, phones, laptops, tablets and more.
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